One of God’s gifts to you is the grace of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. But have you earned full forgiveness?
The technical answer is: No, you can never earn forgiveness. You’re simply not good enough and neither is any amount of good works.
But through Jesus’ sacrifice we are fully forgiven. Long ago Isaiah announced, at God’s direction, God’s plan for His forgiving and forgetting your sins.
Isaiah 43
Isaiah 43 was written by the prophet Isaiah when He received prophetic messages from God (Isaiah 1:1). Isaiah wrote the words that God was speaking to Him and relayed them to the Israelites the way God had spoken them.
Chapter 43 is a classic rehearsal of Israel’s redemption from Egyptian bondage and is followed by the assurance that God is going to do something so startling in the future that Israel is commanded to forget the former things. (Isaiah 43:19)
Isaiah 43:25 Fully Forgiven Sins
In two figurative descriptions, verse 25 assures Israel how fully and finally their sins are forgiven. First, “blotting out” is the language of wiping away something written. Israel’s sins, each an offense against God deserving judgment, are pictured as having been written in a book, but He has erased all of them.
God will forgive the hard-hearted people at the earliest opportunity. He will forget their sins. Despite all their sin and disregard for God, He still loves His people and longs for their humble return.
Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son is a beautiful illustration of this principle. The Prodigal felt the father was a weary burden to be relieved, and he went his own way. But the father still loved him and was ready to forget all the sin as soon as the Prodigal humbly returned. (Luke 15:11-32)
By simply choosing to not remember, God has forgotten our sin as being fully paid for by what Jesus endured on the cross. We can forget our sin also and put it far from us.
God is holy, and God is righteous, His Word never fails, and His plans stand firm forever. The intentions of the Lord can never be shaken, and He is a God that remembers His covenant promises to all His people. The words of the Lord are faithful and true, and they are commanded and guaranteed to a thousand generations.
The same with “sins”, original sin, and actual sins. Sins are transgressions of the law of God, of which the law accuses, for which it pronounces guilt, curses, and condemns; which are contrary to the nature of God, strike at His deity, and must be abominable to Him.
Yet, all are pardoned for Christ’s sake, which in verse 25 is expressed by a “blotting” them out, in allusion to the blotting of a debt book. Sins are debts, and these are many which cannot be paid by the sinner. Christ has made full payment and the debt book is crossed. These debts are remitted for His sake or as a cloud is blotted out, dispelled by the wind, or scattered by the sun (Isaiah 44:22).
The sins are seen no more with the eye of avenging justice, nor charged against the sinner to his condemnation.
The author of this blessing of grace is the Lord, “I, even I am he.” He had been so ill-used, and maltreated. His law had been broken and He is the Lawgiver that can save and destroy.
Forgiveness of sins is God’s sole prerogative, and this He does for His own sake and His Son’s sake.
God forgives and forgets; God will not remember the sins of His people against them; having forgiven them, He will never punish them for them by remembering the sins (Jeremiah 14:10) (Revelation 18:5).
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In conclusion, consider the Daily Bread email message sent on 2/14/2005, 10/10/2008, and 7/12/2023 says,
Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (NASB)
Sinners come to God knowing that there is no reason in them that God should be merciful, but the reason is in God Himself. The greatest display of God’s glorious righteousness is the showing of mercy on those who call on Him. To do so, despite that they deserve only condemnation (1 Samuel 12:22).
An almost unbelievable thing about God is that the barrier to our forgiveness is not our sin, no matter how deep and ugly and godless it may be. God’s infinite love is greater than even our worst rebellion – even if we have rejected Jesus three times in the past (John 18:15‑27; 21:15‑19).
The only “unforgivable sin” is the persistent refusal to come to God in repentance of our sin. Such a lack of remorse shows a “blaspheme” against the Holy Spirit’s work (Matthew 12:31‑32). The mercy and forgiveness of God cannot be earned and is undeserved and unwarranted, but need only be sought and requested.
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